Phonograph machine



May 26. 1925. 1,539,524 G STROBVINO PHONOGRAPH MACHINE Filed Oct. 22 1921 3 Sheei's -Sheet i lwmron,

ATTORNEY 3. Sheets-Sheet 2 May 26 1925 G. STROBINO PHONOGRAPH MACHINE Filed Oct. 22,, 1921 may 26, 1925.

1,539,524 G. 'STROBINO PHONOGRAPH MACHINE- 3 Sheet s -Sheet 3 Filed Oct. 22, 192;

INVENTOQ IIIII B Patented May 26, 1925.

GASTON STBOBINO, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY.

PHONOGRAPH, MACHINE.

Application fi led October 2'2, 1921. Serial No. 509,656.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GASTON S'rnoBmo, a citizen of the United States,'residin at Paterson, in the county of Passaic and tate of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Phonograph Machines, of which the following is a speci-' fication.

This invention relates to phonograph and the like machines and particularly to the transmitters thereof. The principal objects of the invention are to construct a transmitter that will more faithfully reproduce sounds than those now commonly used and at the same time reproduce them in ample volume; to provide a transmitter that may be used with equally good results on either lateral-or vertical-cut records; to provide a transmitter which will be adapted to coact to good advantage with the hollow cover of an ordinary phonograph machine cabinet in amplifying the sounds and which, where said cover is hinged and so is movable from the upright or open position to the horizontal or closed position, may be articulated into and held in housed relation to the cover preliminarily to moving the cover to closed position; and to provide an improved point-device or 'needle for phonograph transmittersl In the drawings,

Figures 1 and 2 are a front and a side elevation of a phonograph machine embodying my invention, the transmitter appearing in folded or inoperative osition;

Figures 3 and 4 are side an front elevations of the transmitter in position to cooperate with a lateral-cut recordyparts of the transmitter supporting means appearing in section in Fig. 3; I

Figure 5 is a view in side elevation of the transmitter in one of the positions'in which it will cooperate with a-verticahcut record, parts of the supporting means appearing 1n section;

Figure 6 is a top plan view of the mem-' ber f shown in Figs. 1 to 5;

Figures 7 and 8 are respeotivelya longitudinal section and airansverse section on line 88, Fig. 7, and Figures 9 and 10 are respectively a longitudinal section and a transverse sectionv on line 10-10, Fig. 9,

ofa certain joint, the parts of a joint in Figs. 7 and 8 on the one hand and Figs.

. tral general re 9 and 10 on the otherpbeing in different relative positions;

Figures 1 1 and 12 show in section and side elevation my improved point-device or.

needle in two different forms;

Figure 13 is a side elevation of a modified form of transmitter in position to oooperate witha vertical-cut record, the sup: I

porting means appearing partly in side elevation and partly in section; and

Figure 14 is an underneath plan view of the transmitter shown in Fig. 13.

a is the record-platen compartment of a its form, and function as a resonator; in the present adaptation it has the form of a concavo-convex shell. Surmounting and secured to this member 6 may be'a smaller and similar resonating member e", being a stud rigidly upstanding centrally from member e and having member e, at a' cen- Member e is not indispensable.

Resonator 0 has attached thereto, to its under side and at its rim, an elongated resonating member or arm f, the same having a preferably substantially half-bulbular inner end f presented with its open side toward the open side of the resonator e and having its outer end f" projecting beyond the erimeter of said resonator, the ation of the "member f to the resonator being that of a'chord to a circle. The end i" is split and a bifurcated metal oint thereof, rigidly secured thereto.\

holder 9 for a needle or point-device h straddles its split portion and is held there: on by alined studs 21 having clampmg nuts 1 which may be screwed up tight enough to put. said split portion under sufiicient tension to prevent any looseness of the holder and consequent. production of sound and et leave the holder free to 111110170 wsomew at on the studs as a ivot; t e nee e for lateral-cut records. The means for attachinginember f to member e may induced oint-device h is a plain or or inary (in the present-case by the torsion of k) as to allow some yield of relatively to e substantially on the axis of k as a pivot.

Somewhat less than .;forty five degrees from arm f anti-clockwise, v ewing member e from above, are rigidly mounted on said member two other point-devices Z m. The

are preferably set in a block or clip nrigi ly attached to the rim ofv resonator e and project in more or less spaced radii at a The transmitter is movable to four per arm 0 of the-bracket will downward incline with respect to the rim. The former is a point-device for V-shaped and the lattera point-device for U-shaped vertical-cut record grooves. I cs1- tions, to wit: the position where it is fo ded or held up in the cover 6 out of o erative relation to the record, and each of t e positions where its point-devices h, l and m respectively rest on the record. When in an of the positions in which it cooperates with the record it should be capable of movement horizontally .or parallel with the face of the record and also up and down, and it should also be held at that time against shifting, by its own wei ht, out of the particular inclination to whic1 it is set and which is appropriate to the particular point-device then in use. The transmitter is supported, so as to fulfill these requirements, as follows: 0 is a bracket attached to a wall of the cover 6 so that when the cover is in the open position an adjustable pin-bearing in the upvertical y above an ad'ustable pin-bearing g in its lower arm 0 A block r has an underneath socket-bearing r for the bearing 9 and at the top a transverse slot r" in the bottom of which isa socket-bearing 1" for the lower end-of 'a bearing in s which planes can tilt on its lower end to a llmited extent longitudinally of, but is held a ainst side-' wise movement by, the slot, an which at the top has a socket-bearin e for the bearing 1). Blockr has at its ower end and in parallel with slot r" a pair of ears r"" (t e nearer'one a pearing in Fig. 3 and the other in Fig. 5? and in these on a clamping screw t is fulcrumed the free end of a stub u which is fitted substantially radially in the rim portion of member a and has an enlarged portion u embraced by the split-collar 'v suitably. secured to the member e (Fig. 3) and provided with a bolt 10 of the stub for clampm it tosa1d stub. The portion a as two arcuate grooves u? u' and connecting them a cut-away portion, or fiat, u (Figs. 7 and 9) arran ed about midway tho length of each of 't em. .Bolt w lies in theh'ecess formed b the grooves and flat, and when the flat re stars with the bolt the transmitter may be e ifted one way or the other'longitudinally'of the stub and observer (Figs.

thereuptn mtatisly a limited iii'smfiefta' wit, until one or the other end of the groove I then registering with the bolt impin es against the latter. The fit of the stud with respect to member 6 may be made suflici'ent-;

recordwhichof course is assumed in this case to be a record with a lateral-cut groove; or the transmitter may be turned clockwise to the limit of the groove, which will bring it to such an inclmation that upon then elevating it on pivot t and swinging it and block r on the vertical axis afiorded thelatter in bracket 0 it will be housed in the cover 6 with the its open side toward the 1 and 2), in which position it may held b .the clip :0. When the bolt coincideswit the shorter groove u' (Figs. 9 and 10) turning of the transmitter clockwise or anti-clockwise to the limit of the groove will bring it to either of two (relatively reverse) inclinatlons, one of which is appropriate for the ointdevice 1 and the other. for the m to properl cooperate with t e record which in suc case would be 'a vertical-cut record with either a V-groove or a U-groove. In any case, when the transmitter is in intevice operative relation to the record it. may move free] horizontally around the vertical axis of b ock 'r, and it may move slightly and 'withdperfect freedom u 9 1m pin a rockingmlengthwise of and in the slot 1'", the joint tween r and u being normally of such tightness ,(by turning screw t to cause u to be clamped between ears 1) that r and u are immovable with reference to each other except when, in moving the the transmitter up an down under the influence of the rotating record and at the same time maintain pressure upwardly against the arm 0 as well as downwardly against the arm 0" of the bracket 0, is substantlally the same as in my Patent No.

and down on pivot r the influence o the rotating record,

(permit movement of My principalobject'in the improving of phonogra h transmitters has been to avoid the'metal ic effects and creation of secondar or induced sounds that attend the use of or "ary diaphragm transmitters and at the same time provide a transmitter that could be used w1th either verticalor lateral-cut records interchangeably. In my Patent No.

1,374,479 I- aimed to accomplish this result by using a hollow membrane member havmg the arms of a fork-shaped free stylus device (terminating in a point-device) rigidly secured as to the arms thereof and only at the extremities of the arms to said member in the line of substantially its greater diameter. But in further experimenting I found that if the transmitter contained, as to the 7 part carrying the point-device a relatively thick vibratory portion, as a thick vibratory head on the free end of a vibratory arm of thin material suitably supported at a point remote from the head (see my Patent No. 1,430,700 already mentioned), the sound would be a better reproduction of the original. In still further experimenting I have now found that I can eliminate the'thin arm and thereby produce .an 'even better reproduction of the original sound as well as a complete elimination of metallic or other interfering or induced sound, and also consid-.

erably increased volume, if, instead of thin broadly, i. e., as. consisting of a body of vi- .7 my Patent bratory, that is, resonant, material formed thick throughout and including a concaveconvex portion with its interior or cavity open to the atmosphere, regardless of whether the point-device actually in use is attached specificallyto said hollow portion or to some other part of said body. Thus said body in. the present example includes arm f, although said arm is not integral with part ev and in fact is capable of slight torsional yield relatively to member'e around the axis of stud k, the purpose ofthe yield being to allow the point-device h to move up and down-as it endeavors to and does more or less short-cut the deflections of the (lateral-cut) groove for which this point-device is "specifically intended--independently of the member 0, whose weight would otherwise cause in ury to the record, just as the purpose of the yield aroundaxis '5 i is to allow thepoint-device to adapt itself, independently of member e, to the lateral deflections of the groove. (The up-and-down yielding of a art of a thick vibratory transmitter body has already been set forth in No. 1,430,700 hereinbefore mentioned). "-Ihave shown member. f extended inwardly, as'at f ior the same reason that I have provided the member e, which may also be regarded as a part of the mentioned said body; neither of these expedients is, however, by any means indispensable.

Since the material for the forming of the transmitter body'that has the proper resonance lacks Suflicient weight to maintain it in good contact with the record-i. e..'a.gainst a tendency to over-vibration or dancingI find it usually expedient to provide a weight, as 1 attaching it to the block 1'. l 1

In Figs. 13 and 14 the parts a to d and o to t are the same as described above. Here the body of resonating material formed thick throughout includes the hollow gongshaped member 2, a shank 2 to which member z is secured (with its open side facing away from the same), and an arm 3 which is secured to the shank. The point-devices 4, 5 for V-shaped and U-shaped vertical-cut records are set in the rim of membenz, which may be turned on the axis of stud 2' (by which it has a friction-fit connection with the shank) to bring one or the other of said devices against the record. its open side being then down. \Vhen the transmitter is inverted the point-device 6 for lateral-cut records, which is carried by the holder 7 rigidly secured tothe end of arm 3, comes into position to cooperate with a record,'arm

3 affording the aforementioned movabilityof the point-device 6 relatively to the structure including the sh nk and member 2 by being then bodily yiel able laterally or parallel with the record and also up and down because of a certain, amount of fiexion and torsion possible in the screw or stud 3' by which it is secured with, a rocking contact against the side of shank 2. The shank has a split-collar 8. receiving the end of a stub 0 and having a screw 10 to clamp it thereto. said stub being clamped between the'ears 'r of the block 1 by the screw t. v

In experimenting with needles or pointdevices of the class in which the record contact part is some hard substance, as a ewel, arranged in a setting I have foundfhat the 'soundgiven off when such adevice is in action is made of greater de th of tone and richness if, first, the setting presents a broad shoulder more or less in a plane at right angles to the axis of the device and, second, the setting is without the usual long tang or shank and is adapted to be itself sunk more or less deeply in the structure which carries it; Figs. '11 and '12 show point-devices embodying these features, F g. 11 showing one for a V-shaped and Fig. 12 one for a U-shaped vertical groove. The actual, though not indispensable, construction shown is a shell 11 of theform of a truncated cone containing a filling of lead 12 in which'the contact part13 is set and having a rearward eye or hook This device isset "bodily in a conform ng socket or body, to wit, to increase the resonance of Gil into said 'bo y and through the eye 14.

Such a resonating body as constitutes the 5 principal feature of my invention is peculiarly fitted to dexelop sound-amplifying to full effect the (11121.11? of a hollow contiguous element 0? the orm and nature of the usual hollow cover b of a phonograph machine cabinet because the tones or sounds set up by such a transmitter are full and well-rounded replicas of the originals. To brin out fully the amplifying quality of the e ement b. it is of course best if the transmitter be attached thereto, and this I do in such manner asto preserve the fullness and roundness of the original sound, and so as to eliminate induced .or interfering sounds, by forming the parts to r and o of the intermediary structure thick and of course of resonant material and with tight joints, it being remarked that in the operative or playing position of the transmitter even the joint-between o and r is a tight one because at that time parts a and '1' are exerting spreading tension on the arms of bracket 0. 7

An important feature of my invention is that the resonating body is'formed in sections in vibration-.transmittin contact with each other and that these sectlons have different'pitch, the mint-device being secured in vibration-transmitting relation to. the section having the hi her itch. Thus the pitch of the part a whic material) or' part f in Figs. 1 to 6, or that of the part a or part 3 in Figs. 13 and 14, is higher than that to which such part in any of these cases is secured, the difference in pitch being in the present example due mainly to the difference in size or bulk. Where the entire body has the same pitch there is too great disparity between the.

uency of the vibrations of the ointdevice and that of the "vibrations 0 said body, so that not only is the full resonance of said body not developed but its vibrations re-act too violently on the point-device, so that it tends to dance or jump more or less over the record; wherethe body is made in "sections of different pitch, with is of resonant,

the point-device attached to the section having the higher pitch, there occurs a steppingu of the vibrations in said body, i. e., from higher to lower frequency, so that the full resonance of the body is not only brought out but the section having the higher pitch becomes in effect a damper between the section having the lower pitc'h'and the pointdevice, thus reducing the tendency to interfere with the proper travel of the point-device over the record.

Havin thus fully described my invention,

what I c aim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A phonograph transmitter consisting of a resonant body including two'thick portions having a torsion-connection with each other, in combination with a record-contact ing point-device secured to one of said portions, the other of said'portions being adapted to be held out of contact with'the record with the axis of said torsion-connection out of perpendicular relation to the record.

2. A phonograph transmitter including a point-device to rest on a record, and a resonant structure having means to attach it to a suitable support and also having. said point-device attached thereto, the portion of said structure to which the point-device is attached being yieldable toward and from and also laterally ofthe record relatively to the portion of said structure having said:

means.

3. In a mounting for the horizontally swingin transmitter of a phonographmachine, t e combination of opposite upper and lower spaced supporting members and, between them, a horizontally swinging member, the swinging member having a pivoting engagement with one of the supporting members, and a pivot device arranged be-j 

